Privacy Policy

We are delighted that you have visited our website. We take your privacy and protection of your personal data very seriously. That is why our business activities are carried out in accordance with applicable regulations on data protection and data security. It is very important to us that you feel safe when visiting our Internet pages. For this reason, we and our data protection officer ensure compliance with legal data protection requirements.

We are fully aware of the importance of the data with which you have entrusted us and would like to inform you in the following about:

the purpose for which your personal data is collected, processed and used,

how we handle and protect this data,

to whom we give access to the data and

how you can exercise your rights.

Please read the following explanation carefully. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our data protection officer at any time. You will find her contact details further down in this privacy policy.

1. Definitions of terms

Data protection is a complex subject. We have put together some fundamental definitions for you to make understanding of this privacy policy easier.

The term “Data Processing” (short DP) within the meaning of Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (previously “Order Data Processing (short ODP) in accordance with § 11 of the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG)) is generally understood to denote a service for which personal data is collected, processed and/or used on behalf of the so-called person responsible by a service provider (order data processing company as defined by the GDPR and data processor as defined by the BDSG). Before a service provider is commissioned to do so, we enter into a special contract with the service provider and put in place additional measures to protect your personal data.

“Cookies” are small text files that are stored on the end device you are using (e.g. your computer or smartphone) and that store certain settings and data for communication with our system via your browser. A cookie generally contains the name of the visited website from which the cookie data has been sent, information on the age of the cookie and an alpha-numerical identification code. Cookies enable systems to recognise the user’s device and can make certain default settings available immediately.

Third parties refer to any natural or legal persons or bodies that are authorised to process personal data in addition to the person concerned, the person responsible, the data processor and the persons who are authorised to process data under the immediate responsibility of the person responsible or the data processors, see article 4. No. 10, GDPR. If personal data is passed onto a service provider as part of data processing in accordance with article 28 GDPR or § 11 BDSG, this does not constitute a third party.

IP addresses are number sequences that can be assigned to individual IT devices or groups. The IP is used in a similar way to postal addresses to attribute data to the right recipient.

“Personal data” refers to all information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person, in particular the first and surname, date of birth, email address, home address, as well as bank and payment details, but also health-related data. See article 4, No. 1, GDPR (particulars about a specific or identifiable natural person in accordance with § 3, paragraph 1 GDPR).

“Responsible party” in accordance with Article 4, No. 7, GDPR (previously “responsible authority” in accordance with § 3, paragraph 7 GDPR) is any person or body that has the authority to make decisions alone or together with others about the uses of and means of processing personal data (in the present case: the website operator).

2. Responsible party

The responsible party in relation to your personal data on this website is:

Should any other authority other than the above-named body be the “responsible party” in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the BDSG, you will explicitly and separately be made of aware of this unless this is completely obvious.

3. Use of the website

3.1 Cookies

Each time this website is accessed, data is recorded. This also applies to the files that are opened. To do so, we use your IP address or employ cookies in order to collect data. This is done, amongst others, via your browser, your computer or the subpages you visit. We require this data in order to make your visit to this website as convenient for you as possible. We do not however produce an individual profile based on your user behaviour. Analysis of user behaviour is always conducted anonymously. General use of the website offering is normally also possible without the use of cookies. However, we cannot exclude limited usability of the website or that it might be less user-friendly.

Most common browsers make it possible to deactivate or limit the use of cookies for certain websites. Browsers are commonly also able to inform you if cookies are being used.

You can delete cookies from your device hardware at any time. However, we cannot in this case exclude limited usability of the website or that it might be less user-friendly. You can obtain information about cookies from the webpages of your browser company.

3.2 Data transfer, Use of service providers

We collect and use your data in accordance with legal requirements and only for our own purposes. Data is not transferred to so-called third parties unless there is a legal requirement for us to do so or you have consented to this transfer.

Should we have recourse to other service providers to fulfil our offering and grant them required access to your data, we will of course have signed a data processing contract (short for DP contract) with our service providers in accordance with Article 28 GDPR or § 11 BDSG for the data processing (short for data processor). We will also continue to be responsible for the protection of your data. The conclusion of the contract does not make the service providers used so-called third parties.

3.3 Credit checks and scoring, credit agencies

If we provide goods or services in advance, for example in the case of a purchase on account, we may carry out a credit check based on mathematical-statistical methods to safeguard our legitimate interests with the help of the following credit agency:

We therefore transfer the personal data required to carry out a credit check to the credit agency concerned and use the information we receive on the statistical likelihood of payment default to make an informed decision for the establishment, implementation or termination of a contractual relationship. The credit report may contain probability values (score values) that are calculated on the basis of scientifically recognised mathematical-statistical processes and whose calculation also takes into account address data. Your legitimate interests worthy of protection are taken into account. These actions are intended to prevent payment defaults and to protect our customers from misuse of their accounts or their identity.3.4 Communication via email, contact forms, telephone or fax

Should you contact us via email, fax, telephone or via one of the available contact forms, we will use the information you provide to contact you and to advise you for the purpose discernible from your request.

Further use of your personal data only occurs if this is permitted by law or if you have given your prior consent.

3.5 Duration of data use / Storage

Your personal data will be deleted provided statutory storage obligations do not prevent this or if you have asserted your rights to deletion of stored data, if the data is no longer required to meet the intended purpose of storage or if data storage is prohibited for other legal reasons.

3.6 Location of data use

As a rule, your data is processed in Germany. In exceptional cases, information that you have provided to us may be stored on servers within the European Union (EU). Should we as the “Responsible Party” deviate from this, we will inform you.

4. Inclusion of services and contents from third parties

4.1 In general

It is possible that contents from third parties such as videos from YouTube, map material from Goole-Maps, RSS-Feeds or graphics from other websites may be included in this online offering. This always assumes that the providers of these contents (subsequently referred to as third-party providers) will detect the IP-address of the users, for without the IP-address they generally cannot transmit the contents to the browser of the respective user. The IP-address is therefore necessary to present these contents. We endeavour only to use contents from providers who solely use the IP address to deliver contents. However, we have no influence over storage of the IP-address by third-party providers for instance for statistical purposes. Should we become aware of this, we will inform users.

4.2 Use of “location-aware browsing” or “geolocation” using Mozilla Firefox

When accessing our websites with the Mozilla Firefox Internet browser, you will be requested to provide your location. If you agree to provide this information, Firefox will collect data on nearby radio access nodes and the IP-address of your computer and will transmit this information to Google Location Services to determine your approximate location. The approximate location will be transmitted to the present website. This website uses the approximate location data to be able to provide you with more suitable information or to save you time during searches.

Additional information on collection, processing and use of your personal data by Mozilla Firefox can be found in the privacy policy of the Mozilla Corporation. Google Location Services provides an approximate position of your location (e.g. longitude and latitude). A full description of the data collected and used by Google can be found in Google Inc.’s privacy policy.

If you do not want data on your location to be collected and processed, please select the option “never provide location data to this page”. Alternatively, you can prevent this by adjusting the settings of your browser accordingly. You can also revoke your consent to collection and processing of location data at any time: www.mozilla.org/de/firefox/geolocation/.&nbsp;

4.3 Use of Google Analytics

This website uses the „Google Analytics” web analysis service of Google Inc. which stores so-called “cookies” (small text files) on your computer. With the help of these “cookies” it is possible to analyse the use of the website. The information generated by a cookie about your use of this website is generally transferred to a Google Inc. server in the USA and is also stored there.

As a rule, your IP-address is first shortened by Google within European Union member states or other contracting member states of the European Economic Area. In exceptional cases, your full IP-address may be transferred to a US server belonging to Google Inc. and will only be shortened in the USA.

Google Inc. will use this information at the request of the operator of the website to evaluate your usage of the website. The data collected in this way will not be kept together with any other data that Google holds.

If you do not want cookies to be stored, you can prevent this by setting your browser software accordingly. We would however like to point out that you may then not be able to benefit from all the functions of this website to their full extent. In case you only want to prevent processing of data by Google Inc., you can download and install a so-called browser plug-in from tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout ).

A browser plug-in should be available for the following browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer (current version), Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera.

As operator of this website, we have entered into a separate agreement with Google Analytics Germany for contract data processing (DP) in accordance with § 11 BDSG.

5. Data security / Secure data transfer

We would like to inform you that the transfer of data via the Internet (e.g. via email) can lead to security gaps. It is not possible to ensure absolute protection from access by third parties. We safeguard our IT systems (including the website/s) from unauthorised access, use, transfer, input, loss or dissemination, as well as deletion or change by unauthorised persons with so-called technical and organisational methods (TOM for short). Your personal data is transferred securely via the Internet using the Secure Socket Layer coding system (256 bit SSL encoding).

For data security purposes, we furthermore keep a record of your IP-address, as well as the data and time of your visit.

You can object to the use of your data at any time – with effect for the future.

6.2 Right of revocation

You can further demand that incorrect information about you be corrected if you are unable to make the changes yourself.

6.3 Right of disclosure

Under statutory law, you can, of course, exercise your rights of disclosure to find out what data we hold about you and for what purpose.

6.4 Data protection officer

If you want to exercise your rights of persons concerned, as well as your right to deletion or blocking, please contact our data protection officer with sufficient authorisation – preferably in writing – at:

We do not accept any liability for external links and third party offers made available through them. We furthermore make you aware that the information on this website is exclusively used for information collection and does not have any legally binding effect.

8. Changes to the privacy policy

Technical progress, legislatory requirements or process changes can also affect this privacy policy. We therefore reserve the right to amend this privacy policy at any time with effect for the future. The currently valid version can be found on our website. Please visit this subpage of our homepage regularly to stay up to date with information on currently applicable regulations.

AS THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY IS PROVIDED IN SEVERAL LANGUAGES, PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GERMAN VERSION IS THE ONLY LEGALLY VALID VERSION.